Agile Planning for Software Products

Agile Planning for Software Products

Agile Planning for Software Products

University of Alberta

About this course: This course covers the techniques required to break down and map requirements into plans that will ultimately drive software production.
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Create effective plans for software development
- Map user requirements to developer tasks
- Assess and plan for project risks
- Apply velocity-driven planning techniques
- Generate work estimates for software products

Welcome to the first module! In this module, you will be learning some basic principles that you will need for effective planning. You will start this module off with an introduction to planning. You will then learn about how planning, and the approach you take to planning, can reduce uncertainty in your project. We will then move onto learning how to breakdown a project into small, manageable pieces, and how to organize those pieces. Finally, we will go over the differences between estimates, targets, and commitments. Together, these lessons will build a good base for learning planning techniques at both the release and iteration level.

7 videos, 6 readings

Video: Specialization Preview

Reading: Meet your presenters: Morgan Patzelt

Reading: Meet your presenters: Bradley Poulette

Reading: Meet Your Facilitator – Christopher Djuric

Video: Introduction to Agile Planning for Software Products

Reading: Course Resources: Agile Planning for Software Products

Reading: Course Map: Agile Planning for Software Products

Video: 4.1.1: Introduction To Planning

Video: 4.1.1A: Introduction To Planning

Video: 4.1.2: Uncertainty Space

Video: 4.1.3: Work Breakdown Structure

Video: 4.1.4: Estimates, Targets, and Commitments

Reading: Module 1: Supplemental Resources

Graded: Peer Review Assignment: Work Breakdown Structure (Graded)

Graded: Module 1: Assessment (Graded)

WEEK 2

Module 2: Project Planning

Welcome to module 2! Now that you’ve gotten your feet wet with general principles in project planning, let’s talk about some specific ways that you can use to implement those techniques. We’ll first discuss the concepts of story points and velocity, then move into how time boxing can be used to improve your project efficiency. We’ll then introduce the Gantt chart, a basic tried and true method of visualizing project tasks. We’ll finish off with techniques for planning your project at a release level, which will set the stage for iteration planning in the next module.

6 videos, 4 readings

Video: 4.2.1: Story Points

Video: 4.2.1A: Story Points

Reading: Discussion: User Story Points

Video: 4.2.2: Velocity Estimates

Reading: Discussion: Velocity

Video: 4.2.3: Time Boxing

Video: 4.2.4: Gantt Charts

Video: 4.2.5: Release Plans

Reading: Release Planning Tips

Reading: Module 2: Supplemental Resources

Graded: Peer Review Assignment: Release Planning (Graded)

Graded: Module 2: Assessment (Graded)

WEEK 3

Module 3: Iteration Planning

This module will be focusing on planning techniques at the iteration or sprint level. You will start by looking at various techniques for estimating task time. You will then look at task dependencies in more detail. This will come in handy when you learn two visual planning charts--the Critical Path Method chart, and the PERT chart. Finally, you will learn the process for creating an iteration plan. By the end of this module, you will have the tools you need to plan sprints or iterations for development.

6 videos, 2 readings

Video: 4.3.1: Estimating Task Time

Video: 4.3.1A: Estimating Task Time

Reading: Worksheet and Discussion: Calculating Task Time

Video: 4.3.2: Task Dependencies

Video: 4.3.3: CPM Chart

Video: 4.3.4: PERT Chart

Video: 4.3.5: Iteration Planning

Reading: Module 3: Supplemental Resources

Graded: Peer Review Assignment: CPM Chart (Graded)

Graded: Module 3: Assessment (Graded)

WEEK 4

Module 4: Risk Planning

You’ve made it to the last module, congratulations! Here, we’re going to talk about what can cause projects to fail. We’ll start off by discussing common causes of failures, including anti-patterns. Then, you’ll learn how to assess risks, looking at their likelihood and potential impact on the project. We’ll end on an optimistic note by leaving you with strategies for intervening when risks present themselves and avoiding those risks to begin with.

8 videos, 3 readings

Video: 4.4.1: Anti-Patterns

Video: 4.4.1A: Anti-Patterns - Team

Video: 4.4.1B: Anti-Patterns - Development

Video: 4.4.1C: Anti-Patterns - Management

Video: 4.4.1D: Anti-Patterns - Individual Developers

Video: 4.4.2: Common Causes of Failure

Video: 4.4.3: Risk Assessment, Likelihood, and Impact

Video: 4.4.4: Risk Strategies, Contingency, Mitigation

Reading: Discussion: Product Management Techniques

Reading: Module 4: Supplemental Resources

Reading: Acknowledgements

Graded: Module 4: Assessment (Graded)

Graded: Course Final Assessment (Graded)

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Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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University of Alberta

UAlberta is considered among the world’s leading public research- and teaching-intensive universities. As one of Canada’s top universities, we’re known for excellence across the humanities, sciences, creative arts, business, engineering and health sciences.

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Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.7 out of 5 of 680 ratings

Excellent course...

Great learning experience

MR

Excellent material, very clear and useful. A real approach to what means and how to planning SW projects according to Agile methodologies. Great information about Anti-patterns. I recommend this course 100%